Earthquake Planning for Government Continuity

/ The problem of assuring government operational continuity following earthquakes has been given little research attention. Recent earthquake experience has documented that government organizations without a public safety mission do incur damaged facilities and routinely see increases in public demands following an earthquake. Impediments to service delivery associated with such dam-ages can be minimized if agencies address earthquake plan elements likely to enhance postimpact functioning, including: the potential to relocate operations, protection for the workplace, possession of an organizational inventory, emergency instructions for employees, the ability to use volunteers, and communication capacity. Factors associated with the adoption of these plan elements were studied in one county government and its municipal county seat in the southwestern United States. A census of departments within these jurisdictions was asked to complete a questionnaire reporting the level of planning activity relative to each of these plan elements. It was found that the overall level of preparedness was low, but statistically significantly related to agency size, perceived risk, and information seeking. The implications of these findings underscore the potential for disruption to government service delivery and permit the identification of potential avenues for increasing levels of preparedness.KEY WORDS: Emergency planning; Earthquakes; Government preparedness     

Patterns of Giving and Receiving Help During Severe Winter Conditions: A Research Note

Severe winter conditions and blizzards may cause persons to be stranded, unable to move from one place to another. Being stranded under such conditions can be life-threatening and often requires help. This is a study of giving and receiving help among people who were stranded during severe winter conditions and blizzards in Bowling Green, Ohio, USA and the surrounding countryside in 1976–1977. Mail questionnaire data were collected from the Bowling Green, Ohio telephone directory which included listings from both rural and urban areas. The family, followed by friends and neighbors, were most important in the giving and receiving of help. There was little difference between the responses of rural and urban residents. Propinquity was found to be an important intervening variable.     

Species Migrations and Ecosystem Stability During Climate Change: The Belowground Connection

Abstract: Compatibility between the belowground mutualists of resident species and the needs of immigrant species will strongly influence the successful transition from one perennial plant community to another during climate change. A hiatus in the overlap between plant species that maintain a positive link with the soil ecosystem could result in site capture by weeds and rapid degradation of the productive capacity of soils. We discuss instances in which such rapid degradation has occurred and argue for the crucial importance of protecting plant-soil links in the coming decades through maintaining biodiversity and utilizing management practices that help plants keep a firm grip on the soil. Examples of the latter include partial and dispersed cutting in forestry, use of green cover crops in agriculture and grazing intensities that permit degraded range to rebuild.     

基于特征和知识的精密注塑模设计和制造系统

采用先进的CAD/CAM技术对传统模具设计制造方法进行改造,是提高模具设计制造质量和效率的关键.此文提出基于特征和知识的才法构造精密注塑模设计和制造系统,并介绍了系统的总体方案和系统包含的各模块功能.这一系统是浙江省科委八五攻关项目“精密注塑模设计和制造(CAD/CAM)技术”的核心.     

Forecasting the Risk of Brown Tree Snake Dispersal from Guam: a Mixed Transport-Establishment Model

Abstract:  The brown tree snake ( Boiga irregularis ) is a devastating invader that has ecologically and economically affected Guam and is poised to disperse further. Interdiction efforts are being conducted on Guam and some of the potential receiving sites, but no tools exist for evaluating the potential for snake incursion; thus, the amount of effort that should be invested in protecting particular sites is unknown. We devised a model that predicts the relative risk of establishment of the brown tree snake (BTS) at a given site. To calculate overall risk, we incorporated in the model information on the likelihood of an organism entering the transportation system, avoiding detection, surviving to arrive at another location, and establishing at the receiving end. On the basis of documented rates of snake arrival at receiving sites, the model produced realistic predictions of invasion risk. Model outputs can thus be used to prioritize interdiction efforts to focus on especially vulnerable receiving locations. We provide examples of the utility of the model in evaluating the impacts of changes in transportation parameters. Finally, the model can be used to evaluate the impacts that BTS establishment at an additional site and that creation of a new source of snakes would have. The use of qualitative inputs allows the model to be adapted by substituting data on other invasive species or transportation systems.     

Improving Interactions between Animal Rights Groups and Conservation Biologists

Abstract:  Invasive species are often considered to be a major threat to biodiversity, leading conservation biologists to often recommend their complete eradication. Animal rights groups typically categorically oppose killing animals, and their opposition has brought eradication attempts of gray squirrels in northern Italy (Europe) and mute swans in Vermont to a halt. As a result native red squirrels may disappear from Europe and ecosystem-wide impacts are expected to be caused by the swan. In contrast, cooperation between managers and animal rights groups has resulted in a successful control program for feral pigs in Fort Worth, Texas (U.S.A.). The philosophical differences between animal rights and conservation biologists' views make cooperation seem unlikely, yet documented cases of cooperation have been beneficial for both groups. We recommend that managers dealing with invasive species should consult with social scientists and ethicists to gain a better understanding of the implications of some of their policy decisions. In addition, we recommend that animal rights groups do more to support alternatives to lethal control, which are often excluded by economic limitations. Prevention of arrival of invasive species via application of the precautionary principle may be an especially productive avenue for such collaboration because it fits the goals and values of both groups.     

Effects of Spatially Extensive Control of Invasive Rats on Abundance of Native Invertebrates in Mainland New Zealand Forests

Predation on native fauna by non‐native invasive mammals is widely documented, but effects of predation at the population level are rarely measured. Eradication of invasive mammals from islands has led to recovery of native biota, but the benefits of controlling invasive mammal populations in settings where eradication is not feasible are less understood. We used various combinations of aerially delivered toxic bait and control measures on the ground to reduce abundances of invasive rats (Rattus rattus) to low levels over large areas on mainland New Zealand and then monitored the abundance of invertebrates on replicated treatment sites to compare with abundances on similar nontreatment sites. We also assessed rat diet by examining stomach contents. Abundance of the rats’ most‐consumed invertebrate prey item, the large‐bodied Auckland tree weta (Hemideina thoracica), increased 3‐fold on treatment sites where we maintained rats at <4/ha for approximately 3 years, compared with the nontreatment sites. Auckland tree weta also increased in abundance on sites where rats were controlled with a single aerial‐poisoning operation, but rat abundance subsequently increased on these sites and tree weta abundance then declined. Nevertheless, our data suggest that biennial reduction of rat abundances may be sufficient to allow increases in tree weta populations. Other invertebrates that were consumed less often (cave weta [Rhaphidophoridae], spiders [Araneae], and cockroaches [Blattodea]) showed no systematic changes in abundance following rat control. Our results suggest that the significant threat to recruitment and individual survival that predation by rats poses for tree weta can be mitigated by wide‐scale aerial pest control. Efectos del Control Extensivo Espacial de Ratas Invasoras sobre la Abundancia de Invertebrados Nativos en Bosques de Nueva Zelanda     

Early Secondary Succession in Bottomland Hardwood Forests of Southeastern Virginia

Addressing the need for reference sites that permit wetland managers to evaluate the relative success of wetland restoration efforts, this project examines the early successional properties of a chronosequence of 17 forested wetlands that have been clear-cut and allowed to naturally revegetate. Ordinations performed on the data using CANOCO software indicated three general types of communities—one dominated by bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), one dominated by black willow (Salix nigra), and one with a species composition similar to that of a mature stand of bottomland hardwoods. These divisions were correlated with the percentage of stems originating as coppice on stumps leftover from the clear-cut. In particular, the bottomland hardwood stands were regenerating predominantly as coppice, while the cypress/tupelo and black willow stands were regenerating primarily as seedlings. As indicated by the earlier development of overstory basal area, coppice sites were also regenerating much faster. The hydrology of a site also exhibited a strong impact on the rate of regeneration, with the semipermanently to permanently flooded portions of sites often exhibiting little or no regeneration. The results indicate that, because of the overwhelming reliance on coppice sprouts as the main source of stems and the concomitant enhanced rates of regeneration, certain vegetative parameters of clear-cut bottomland hardwood stands would not be effective benchmarks by which to judge the relative success of creation and restoration efforts.